Olive Higgins Prouty

“ Ollie Bartlett had suggested to Edna that she need not feel obliged to join them.
"You know everybody does just as he pleases in this crowd, and you may not care for picnics in the snow, and such strenuous tramps."
Oh, yes, I do!" Edna assured her. "I think they're great fun. Of course I'll come along. Naturally!" Now that she was one of the Bartlett party, surely she must fall in with its program; surely she must not so soon prove to be that mean and contemptible creature, a quitter. ”

“ Edna replied flippantly. "It hurts to cure most anything, I suppose—bones, as well as foolish ambitions, and my ankle isn't the only thing you've helped to cure."
Humorous and sharp retorts to solicitous doctors, she had long ago discovered, proved her safest defense against tears. And now to Bord Mathewson she went on tartly, "I saw you wink at my expense that first night, and though it hurt a little at the time it has accomplished its purpose. For years I've nursed ambition to make of myself some day an all-round good sport. ”

“ He had never seen her in anything but his canvas jacket. She was like a flower in that soft pink thing. A sudden vision of the cottage—of her, like this in the cottage on the mountainside, with the storm raging outside, possessed him. ”

“ Last year Ollie Bartlett herself was recovering from an appendix operation, and wasn't allowed to climb anything stiffer than a rolling cow pasture. Two operations wouldn't have kept Ollie from her yearly glimpse of Washington covered with snow, that she got from the carriage road on the way from the station to the hotel. Everybody did as he pleased in the Bartlett party. Edna could paddle about the fields and over the brooks by herself—and with her, Nina. Of course she couldn't do any of the real tramps. The men hated to be delayed on a climb by someone who wasn't in climbing condition. ”

“ This was the fourth season that this particular group of men and girls had managed to meet together, here in the heart of the snow-covered mountains, for a week of winter sports over "the twenty-second." A summer hotel opened for the entire month of February to accommodate such enthusiasts. Instead of tennis rackets, and golf clubs, and mountain staffs, its halls and verandas were filled with skis, skates, snow-shoes and toboggans. It was through her friendship with Nina Borst that Edna Miller found herself one of the Bartlett party this year. ”

“ He was a big, massive fellow, who never got tired or cold or hungry, when other human creatures did.
He had done a good deal of serious climbing in Switzerland at one time, and a dozen years ago he was one of a party of explorers in arctic regions. The women in the Bartlett party considered his condescension in joining them every year a marked compliment to their prowess. Every one of them was eager to prove herself worthy of following in the trail that Bord Mathewson broke for them over what to him must have been toy mountains. ”

“ In it she could feel her body thrill with vitality, as she swam, with strong and vigorous stroke through cold waters, or ran like an antelope over vast spaces, or performed with marvelous skill with tennis racket, golf club, paddle or oar. ”

“ Yes, Bord Mathewson had got to the point of thinking about Edna Miller in similes by the second day, when the searchers from the hotel discovered the missing pair, spotting them miles away by the ribbon of smoke from their open fire.
But it wasn't until Edna was established at the hotel that she learned Bord Mathewson's opinion of her. And then it was brought to her John Alden-wise, by the facetious man of the party.
"You ought to hear the bouquets Bord's throwing at you down-stairs," he said. "You've got the women all green with envy." ”

“ Even with such proficient snow-shoers as Ollie Bartlett, Fairlee Ormsbee and Nina Borst, Bord Mathewson and one of the more experienced of the men usually went off by themselves to climb something real, they said. ”

“ She suffered horribly. He knew that. Not only from the ankle. There seemed to be some difficulty with her back, too. She confessed to it finally, when he observed how cautiously she moved her arms.
"You're right. No use pretending," she had laughed. "It's a foolish backbone—about as appropriate for snow-shoeing as that paper-lined coat of mine." ”

“ It had taken him, it seemed, almost two hours to locate this small cottage and carry her to it. In the meanwhile it had begun to snow. The wind was in the northeast. It would be unwise to attempt to find the way down the mountainside at night in a snowstorm, under any circumstances. As far as he could see, the members of the Bartlett party would have no reason to suspect that he and Miss Miller had not arrived safely at the hotel, and certainly there was no one at the hotel to suppose that any of the climbers had decided to turn back. ”

“ Valiantly she set out near the front of the long single file of snow-shoers, across the road, and over a fence, and up a gentle rise on the other side, toward the woods beyond, determined to prove that it isn't always clothes that make a good sportsman.
On this first morning the women were taking a stroll by themselves. "Going to mosey through the woods," they said, "for an hour or so, and back in time for luncheon. Just to warm up, and get into trim for the men to-morrow."
Edna Miller started near the front of the file. ”